My acceptance email says you can either clear post before or after attending CISAC, depending on your post policies. Both ways are still considered TDY en route. However, Im wondering If I clear post before I go, and continue on to my follow on assignment from CISAC, how do they process your PCS paperwork (DLA, per diem pay, DITY move reimbursement)? I'm thinking it might be smarter to clear Benning after CISAC to make it more like a normal PCS.

yeah, AutobahnSHO is correct, TDY enroute is you leaving your duty station (clearing, etc...) traveling to a TDY location and then continuing on to your new duty station. DLA, per diem, and DITY moves are reimbursed when you arrive at your next duty station unless you take advances for them at you old duty station before departure. You still have to do a travel settlement after arriving at the new duty station either way.

Not sure about the acceptance email, but TDY en-route is not the same as TDY and return, then PCS. I have procesed travel for soldiers and if your orders say TDY en-route, finance is not going to pay everything for you to return to the old duty station and then PCS to the new Duty station. They will pay travel from old duty station to TDY location and then travel from TDY location to new duty station.

Leave days could be affected also for traveling back to the old duty station, and then onwards to new duty station. I have had a soldier do the "return to clear" thing and he was not paid for that travel time, was charged leave days for that time also since he was not TDY, and the post had his PCS orders, a copy of his leave form for TDY en-route(he signed out), and had already processed him out in the system (yes without clearing papers in their file).

Just be carefull and read your orders, verify with finance about travel, DLA, and perdiem (I recommend NEVER taking an advance if you can avoid it), and your post/unit on what is going to happen with all this.

I went thru CISAC last April. I will highly suggest you to go TDY and return. You will not receive orders or anything like that, just the acceptance e-mail. It is your decision to go en route or return and then clear, just let the assignment personnel at Benning the way you want to go to school and they will cut your orders accordingly. Good luck with CISAC, it is not that hard, you just have to put the hours.

Thanks for the help, I'll call the Fort Benning transportation office and see what they say about it. I've got another question for you guys; I signed a BEAR extension after I was accepted to get my school date. If I get promoted to E-6 before I go to school, will this affect my BEAR extension? I've heard that it can void my extension contract under the BEAR program and affect my reenlistment after school.

I'm in the same boat as you SGT May, I am going to school April 2013 and was accepted in February (don't know why it's so far out). Anyway when it came up on BEAR I locked it in with the career counselor. At first he looked at the message and said, "shit, SGT non-promotables". He sent a hotline up and then received response with "SM is verified with school date of April 2013". So he was like, "just don't get promoted". I read the agreement before he sent it up and as it read to me is that we will lose the potential for bonus money if we get promoted. Your ETS should not be affected. In my case since I would be E6 (highly unlikely since my current MOS cutoff is perma-798) with over 9 years after graduation I would just have to re-enlist indef.

One thing I would like to mention is I offered to remove my promotable status but because I have so much time in already that would put me so close to my RCP.

Interesting times in the Army where you have to work the system and work to NOT get promoted in order to receive a bonus.

Yeah, hard times these days haha. I am an 11B currently, so I am 99% sure I will meet points if I go to the board in June (our SSG points are around 450 right now for PZ). I figured I would lose the bonus because the BEAR message says E5 Non P. I was just worried about not being allowed to reenlist after CISAC. I'm going to drop a line to my retention NCO and see what he says. He's not a great retention NCO to start with, so this might be a stretch.

I did email SFC Bagley (I think that was the name) at CISAC, and they told me as long as I was accepted already I could get promoted and it wouldn't affect me as far as going to school/ still being accepted to reclass. So I thought I was good to go, until I started thinking about the BEAR extension.

Well all the BEAR is is like this:1) Get accepted to the application MOS or meet qualifications to reclass. Note: you need a class date in ATRRS.2) Extend to meet the SRR for the school.3) Re-enlist for bonus after graduation and MOS qualification.

I don't know if I'm explaining it right but to make a long story short you will need to extend to meet the SRR for the school anyway, bonus or not. So as long as your RCP isn't coming up or you are not flagged you should be good.

MIBound- So you went TDY and return. Do you mind me asking where you were stationed before you went to school? I'm going in November so I have some time, but I wanted to get a handle on all of this ahead of time. If I understand right, if I do TDY and return, I won't clear Benning until after school, so I won't actually process any PCS paperwork until then? And my TDY travel voucher will be separate from my PCS paperwork. Any specific reason you recommend doing return instead of en route?

I agree...why TDY and return?...i leave for school in July and I am driving from Fort Jackson...My thoughts were to clear completely then go from CISAC straight to my next duty station(Bragg)and just report early...

quote:

Originally posted by SGT May:MIBound- So you went TDY and return. Do you mind me asking where you were stationed before you went to school? I'm going in November so I have some time, but I wanted to get a handle on all of this ahead of time. If I understand right, if I do TDY and return, I won't clear Benning until after school, so I won't actually process any PCS paperwork until then? And my TDY travel voucher will be separate from my PCS paperwork. Any specific reason you recommend doing return instead of en route?

One difference is that TDY and return will be done in DTS at your last duty station, and you can settle that travel before clearing. TDY in route has your new duty station processing your TDY and PCS travel manually and entering it into a different system. If there are any TDY entitlement issues about what you try to claim durring TDY time, they will go off your Form 1610.

I asked the same question about getting E6 now that I got accepted, and my Retention NCO said that if you get picked up, you will still go to school, you will just not receive the bonus that is associated with the BEAR program if that was what you went through.

I have a friend here that got accepted and is a SSG now. His command did you let him go so he just deployed and when he came back he got re classed to another MOS. Is there a rule ya'll know as far how long is an approved packet is good for?

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